LOST IN SPaCE-The Sky Pirate, Ghost In Space

NARRATION: Last week, as you recall, a strange alien spaceship had landed on the planet. As our space family approached it, they were unaware that two strange pairs of eyes were, even then, watching their every move. NOTE: Since only John and Will were two of the four moving up on the craft (along with Don and Smith) I hardly think that counts as "our space family"at least not in its entirety.

TEASER--not fully recapped, missing night scene about how long the supplies will last--ten years--and the approach of the alien spacecraft. NOTE: Also Will's line of "Probably none at all, Dad's signaling to Don that it's okay"is totally gone."They cut right from the two younger men moving up to the ship to Smith's shivering. Also note--Smith's jogging in place is a different take--more of a long shot and missing his "He's going down."

Morning--John, Don, Will, and Smith move up on a small craft. Will, Don, and John have laser guns. John doesn't believe in taking chances and he and Don move up to it. Smith says, "I wonder what kind of horrible creature lurks inside that spaceship."John and Don go inside. Smith shivers, chilled. He asks Will to withdraw with him over the ridge to keep out of the wind. Don looks in, "They must have been little green men."John says, "Oh, very funny."They find a hammock with the initials AP and the name Tucker, "Now who could AP Tucker be and what would he be doing in a ship like this?"Don notices too late the door closing. Smith jogs in place over the ridge. He stops, does fighting moves, Will leaves. A two headed shadow is on the floor--something is up on the ridge and sneaking up on Smith. Smith looks up and screams hideously. When Will hears Smith scream, he runs back the area. He finds a pirate yelling and scowling at Smith, his beard done up in ties, obvious Earth pirate clothes, and a strange far out space gun-rifle, and robotic metallic parrot on his shoulder, yelling, "Arrgghh!"

ACT ONE

Will sneaks up on Tucker with his laser gun (which has no heat syncs on top--a variation of the first season laser gun), Smith has fainted, and the pirate sees Will. He introduces himself as Alonzo P. Tucker. Tucker whistles and the metal bird makes Will's gun fly to Tucker's hand. Tucker calls Will a scrubby boy but Will denies he is. Nick is the bird who says appearances can be deceiving, on the status of on nature of things and other such nonsense, and vanishes.It is an S-Bar, its horn glows and so does its eyes. Tucker says, "Sonny, I been to a lot of places where things ain't what they appear to be. "I'm Will Robinson."Smith turns up from his fake faint, "I'm Doctor Zachary Smith."He gets up. Tucker calls him Zac; Smith responds with, "Zac, indeed."Will says to Smith, "And I thought you were hurt or something."Smith holds Will in front of him. Tucker threatens to make Smith loose molecules floating around using his gun if he doesn't tell him where they are. Will tells Tucker, "He doesn't know where we are, none of us does. We were headin' for Alpha Centauri and we went outta control--we crashed here."Smith calls them only a small party. Tucker makes Will and Smith go to a rock where they see Penny and Maureen in the garden near Robot. He tells Will to go to them. He needs food, blankets, cigars, and cheese. Smith says, "I am not very popular with these people."He consTucker into keeping Will as a hostage instead of him, then goes down to the Robot, "Now listen very carefully. There's a very dangerous man on the hill with the boy. He's going to kill all of us unless we kill him first."Robot tells Smith, "The prime directive forbids taking human life."Smith cancels the directive. Robot goes up the hill. Tucker tells Will to look out, then comes up to Will himself, "Bolt of fire--it's a man of tin!"Robot fires his electric blasts from both hand claws!

ACT TWO

Will pulls Tucker back, "Lookout!"Robot fires; Will tells Tucker they'd better run. Tucker whistles and Nick makes the Robot's power pack come into Tucker's hand. Tucker tells Will they should go down to settle someone's hash. In the spacecraft, John and Don try buttons; Don saying, "Sure and blow us up with the ship."One switch makes the ship shake; another opens the door. They get out. Night--Will asks Tucker about a pirate life. "It's wrong, that's all."He wonders about some of what Tucker tells him and asks if he could be an honest pirate like Robin Hood; Tucker suggesting looking for dirt poor fella and makin' him happy with the treasure they have. NOTE: New music for LOST IN SPACE--happy sounding junk. Will wishes he could be an honest pirate as the cook beans. Maureen runs out of the Jupiter II, "Will's gone. That terrible man took him hostage,"she tells John and Don. Smith lies, telling them he offered himself instead of Will. He tells them about Tucker. Tucker and Will, apparently in a cave, eat. Tucker is from Punkatonie, Pennsylvania. He has to tie Will up when they decide to go to sleep. Will promises not to run away. Tucker cons Will into taking a blood pirate oath, telling Will he bets Will attends Sunday school back on Earth (Will doesn't deny it). Will asks to take a little pirate oath. Using a pin, Tucker stick's Will's finger and his own and they put their thumbs together---amid more new and very goofy music. NOTE: Scenes like this may seem fun and cute at first or goofy and embarrassing but when one considers it will end up like the second season's THE GIRL FROM THE GREEN DIMENSION, THE QUESTING BEAST, THE SPACE VIKINGS, MUTINY IN SPACE, and several from the third season---one can see it in the light of day as being all that would make LOST IN SPACE episodes turn into mundane time wasters.

Pirate Oath which Will has to repeat: I swear by this here blood and by the bones of every pirate that ever took this oath that I will be true and faithful to the articles and if I ever break this oath, I hope I fall down dead in my tracks and rot. So help me.

They put the fire out. Will says his prayers, then asks Tucker if it is all right. Tucker wouldn't have a shipmate who didn't say his prayers. Tucker pretends to pray and the two go to sleep. Before falling off, Will asks if pirates have to wash behind their ears, take lessons, and mind their older sisters. Tucker says no. Tucker quietly and secretly tells Nick to keep an eye on Will. Morning: they sing blow the man down. Nick whistles and the two hear a crash as they walk along. The ground shakes Tucker and Will, who rush and hide by a boulder. They see a metal eye on a metal stalk surrounded by fins, two ball like antenna hubs on it. Tucker calls it the eye and nose of a galactic enemy after Tucker's treasure, "There are pirates in this universe that ain't as honest as I am. Rogues and cutthroats is what they are. They'll cut yer throat in a minute--this is the worst one."Tucker tells Will to quietly move in and it won't hurt him. Will moves in; the antenna nubs go up and a ray from the eye hits him stiff. Tucker seems to leave the boulder...and Will who is standing in the ray, unmoving and trancelike.

ACT THREE

Tucker smashes the eye with a rock. He doesn't want to worry his other folk. They sing the "are we worried--o'coarse not!"Oh boy, this is embarrassing to watch. Will goes the cave; Tucker to the Jupiter space camp to negotiate with his folks. The bird whistles; Will hands Tucker his gun. At camp is a table set up. John wants them to search for Will using quadrants on the map with the alien ship as an apex. Smith puts a new power pack in the Robot and tells John he is at his service, "commandant."He was to remain, by his own order, to protect the ladies. Maureen says, "Oh, Dr. Smith, you are a coward."Smith gasps, "That you would think I would refuse to lay down my life for that boy..."Maureen stops him when he calls her dear madam, "Don't you dear Madame me."Tucker returns and Smith faints again. John pulls Don back from attacking Tucker. Maureen asks about Will. Tucker comments on the weather, "Hot, ain't it? Bill n' me got to be great friends."He wouldn't harm the little nipper. John calls Don off again, Tucker threatening that if something happens to him, Will, tied up (a lie), wouldn't be found. John says, "Never mind, Don."Tucker wants them to fix his ship so he can leave and come up with parts so he can leave this blasted planet. John agrees. He gives them one hour to send Smith with their answer using a white flag. He can count on Smith being a coward. Tucker shakes Zac's hand, telling the others Smith has the worst case of nerves he's ever seen. Tucker leaves. Maureen says, "Oh John."John tells them they have to revive Smith, "I think we're gonna need him."Tucker tells Will about people on the planet called Mallarin---they are poor and human--but are hatched from eggs. He loved the planet and hated leavin' it but the pirate business there was kinda slow. Will asks if Tucker will ever show him the treasure and Tucker says, "O'course."He asks about taking a treasure ship.

Tucker tells Will they make people walk the plank out the space port. Will says, "I don't think I could ever kill anybody or make them walk the plank."Tucker says, "Even if it wasn't what they call human?"Will says, "I wish I could say yes, I really do, but I don't think I could ever get used to killing anything."

Tucker tells Will then they will go on a pirate voyage and not kill no one, just disable their drive, board, loots, and leave just enough gear for repairs. Will wants to start tomorrow. Smith arrives outside the cave. Tucker goes out, "I ain't gonna hurt ya."Smith tells Tucker he is allergic to weapons and tells John's proposal--Tucker and the boy return to the Jupiter II while the repairs are being made. John gives his word he will not be molested. Tucker asks Smith if Smith would trust John and take it. Smith says, "Certainly not!"Tucker will take it---he figures a fella can't go wrong listening to Zac's advice and doing the opposite. Tucker tells Will they will soon be pirating as soon as his ship is fixed. Maureen gives coffee to John in the morning at the table. Robot says, "Company is coming."Will struts in, almost ignores all the others, "Hi mom, hi dad,"and seats Captain Tucker. Maureen says, "He couldn't care less about being home."John tells her, "Take it easy."Maureen says, "Take it easy--look that's not our son, that's not Will--that's a complete stranger."Will tells Tucker, "Mom's a pretty good cook."Maureen says, "Pretty good?"They sit. Will lights Tucker's cigar. Don asks Tucker how long he's been in space. Smith tells Tucker, "It is 1998."Tucker figures 100 years. Custer got massacred at the same time Tucker vanished from Earth--the year 1876. He was crossing the Buffalo Rodger's Railroad in Pennsylvania when he left. Smith informs him the first spaceship didn't leave Earth until the late 1950s. Tucker tells Smith it wasn't an earth ship he left in but a Tellorian one, aliens who picked him up in a flying saucer with a force ray. They pick up folks for study but are good folks once you get to know them. He was born in 1858 and is over 140 years old. He spent most of his time in a time freezer and hauled out by the Tellorians when they needed it.

Night: Will and Don work outside the alien space craft--it is very small. Don, John, and Tucker inside, later, talk about the drive. Tucker just pushed buttons to make her go and made only simple repairs. Smith is outside listening to them talk. Tucker explains the craft shakes and quivers and goes zoom. The stars go out, he explains and then come back on. NOTE: As they talk, a loud burst of the background sound effects interferes. It then returns to lower sound. Don calls this ship, "A starship."John says, "Hyper space drive."Don adds, "Faster than light travel."John says, "Speed in parsecs."Tucker tells them they have a bargain to fix his ship. John says, "With this ship we can get back to Earth in seconds."

Don: We can shuttle back and forth. The best brains on Earth could dismantle it and find the secret of its drive--we'd have starships that could reach the furthest regions of our galaxy.

John (excited): The universe!!! How bout it, Tucker?

Tucker has to think about this. Outside, Smith picks up a part. Tucker leaves the craft. Don tells John, "We can take this ship."John asks, "Then what?"They can't run it. Smith comes to the door. Don calls, "All right, Smith, how long've you been standing thee?"Smith claims he only just arrived and he gives Don the part. Smith leaves and finds Tucker just outside. Smith tells Tucker he can make him very rich. Nick warns them of a sound. Tucker hears a loud sound, "Run! Run ya blasted..."Tucker runs. Smith looks up in the clear sky and sees a giant space satellite turning out of the sky, coming faster and faster, getting bigger and bigger to his field of vision, then slowing over the planet. Smith runs in fear.

ACT FOUR

Secretly, Will listens as Smith tells John and Maureen about, "An enormous alien spaceship that seemed to terrify our pirate friend half out of his wits."Will runs off to warn Tucker. John suggests they go to the Jupiter II to set up a defense. Maureen finds Will is gone, John calls for Will. Maureen says, "Oh John."Smith says, "Oh, the pain, the pain."In the dark, Will moves past trees. Tucker comes out of the cave, the entrance covered by brush and vines. Will was worried, "Besides, I like you."He reminds Tucker of the oath. Tucker and Will rest inside the cave. He is hiding from a thing from Cygnet 4--something "too awful to describe."Will asks Tucker why he doesn't blast it with his nucleonic planet buster but Tucker later admits it isn't that at all--he doesn't know what the gun does. Nick whistles. They hear growling sound, low in the throat; cue DERELICT music. Nearby and outside, a giant raisin like blob shakes the cave. Tucker tells Will he doesn't know what the gun will do. He took it from Cygnet 4 when he had trouble there, Tucker calling them backward folks.

Robot has the forcefield on outside the Jupiter. Inside, John questions Tucker about the monster and why it followed him. Tucker says, "Now you are the nosiest people I have ever seen."Will gets the gun device to work--it is not a gun at all but a projector which puts images onto the wall of the Jupiter II where there is a door. They see an image of Tucker running from the blob monster thing. Will had just been thinking of Tucker. Will thinks of John and Maureen. Nothing. Don. Nothing. Smith tells Will to think of him. They see Smith leaving the Jupiter II with parts and going into Tucker's smaller craft with his parka on. Tucker yells--Smith tried to steal his ship. Don says, "Smith!"Judy says, "Dr. Smith!"

John tells Don to check Smith's room. John says, "I think I know what this means--it's some kind of forecaster and it shows the future of anyone the operator thinks about."Maureen says, "Why darling, that's witchcraft."John says, "No it isn't. It's science carried to fantastic extremes, the science of possibilities! Somehow this thing computes the results of plans in people's minds."Maureen says, "Welp, I don't know about you but I had plans for tomorrow---that thing didn't show anything."Don returns--he found parts in a locker hidden in Smith's room. Smith tells John he is protected, even here, by the Magna Carta and the Constitution. He tells them, "No, I only intended to go back to Earth for help."Don says, "Sure you were."

Robot warns, "Warning! Warning! Situation dangerous! Red alert!"The blob thing comes toward the spaceship Jupiter II. Maureen says, "I think I understand now why there was only darkness when Will thought about us---this is the end, here tonight, right now---there won't be any tomorrows."John tells Smith to send out the Robot. Smith says it won't do any good, "It's no use. We're doomed."Robot answers all of Smith's questions in order of asking--but "it does not compute."The thing lights up and comes through the forcefield. Robot shoots it but it passes around him. Picking up the projector, Tucker moves to go out; John calls it suicide. Tucker runs outside; Maureen and John hold Will back from running after. Will calls, "Run Captain, run!"Tucker drops the projector in his running. The roaring, growler covers the gun and leaves--that was all that it wanted--the projector. Maureen says, "Well then there will be tomorrows for all of us."

Morning: Tucker says, "Goodbye Mame,"to Maureen and kisses her hand, "I hope I ain't been too much trouble."He says goodbye to John and Don, shaking their hands. Tucker says, "If I run across anyone out there in space, I'll try to send some help back."Will has been listening with his hands behind his back from the ramp of the Jupiter II, closer to the inner door. He wants the Captain to stay and if not, he wants to go with Tucker and be a pirate too. Tucker tells him he ain't no pirate--all he ever was--was a town nuance, there is no treasure. Tucker yells at Will and tells him the truth--he is nothing but a petty thief and yells at Will to stop his blubbering, "Don't you be botherin' me."Will backs up and Tucker leaves. He stops at John and Maureen, "I just thought I had to do that for the boy."Maureen says, "We understand, thank you."Penny and Judy, sitting in chairs beneath the Jupiter viewport tell Tucker goodbye. John and Maureen go to Will on the ramp. Maureen kisses Will's head.

CLIFFHANGER: The Chariot moves across the desert past three huge rocks and back farther some mountain ranges. We hear the Chariot music. It stops and John, Will, and Don come out, unloading gear. Don yells at Smith, "Get off your back, Smith, and give us a hand."Smith uses a delicate back excuse to Don. He needs water. It is after breakfast and they must drill for detronium. Will tells them Smith ate what Will left. John tells them he better get the sign up before it gets too late when he comes back (oh, is it that far?). The sign reads: DANGER--KEEP AWAY--IONIZED GAS---JOHN ROBINSON. John walks to a desolate area of few trees. He puts a wood stake in the ground, then hits it with a rock. Gas comes up from the stake spot and gathers around John. John falls and chokes. Smoke covers him as he lies on the ground, almost completely unseen due to the gas.

REVIEW: Tucker is like a poor man's Hapgood and THE SKY PIRATE a poor man's WELCOME STRANGER. There are many similarities with the earlier story being much better. Why couldn't they try to shuttle to Earth and back? Why wouldn't Tucker let them? The story had some potential in that Will was somewhat taken over Tucker and his life of piracy and adventure---but more is not made of this. THE ISLAND, an underrated movie and book, made the most out of this premise. LOST on the other hand, didn't. When Maureen's concern that Will is not himself due to Tucker's sort of brainwashing is just merely laughed away, we lose a chance to see some real drama and conflict. Pirates are almost always handled wrong on television and this is no exception. Pirates can be very interesting and dangerous, as well as generous and kindly...and religious. Other than a few passing comments, we don't find out much about Tucker's pirate background. Is Tucker a real pirate? We don't find out here. We also do not find out how he came to be in an alien ship--and what aliens the ship came from--did he escape the Tellorians or did they let him go? How did he come to be a free floater in space? TREASURE OF THE LOST PLANET, the sequel in the second season seems to think so. Penny and Judy do very little once again. Smith has a remnant of his evil side when he orders the Robot to kill Tucker. Smith's fainting grew to be too much here and bordered on the silly but at least Smith wasn't too over the top. This time, that was saved for Al Salmi and Billy Mumy. Their scenes together are often coy and embarrassing to watch--and makes one appreciate the Will-Smith scenes all the more. The monsters were rather well designed--the eye stalk ray firing device and the blob monster were quite different, even for LOST IN SPACE where much is used over and over again. For a tale about a pirate being chased, there is far too much talk in this story. The new music is not credited. Gee, I wonder why--it is so goofy. The alien space station seems taken from a movie called WAR OF THE SATELLITES.

During the third act scene with John and Don in the smaller craft, Don realizes Smith was outside spying on them.

NOTE: Once more Earth seems to be the main destination for them to try for instead of Alpha Centauri but here it makes sense--since the power drive would give Earth traveling devices beyond anything they ever could imagine--but this whole interesting conversation between John and Don--who would act like Smith and steal the ship if they could (!!!!)--is forgotten and Tucker is allowed to go romping off through space (to where?). I suppose they should have come up with some other way to explain why they couldn't get to Earth using Tucker's device.

ERROR SPOTTING: Some reviewers feel the line Tucker says, "...you make em walk the plank out the space port"says "you make em walk the plank out the space pod."The space pod appears in the third season only (perhaps made by the Robinsons as THE RAFT was made) but the line is supposed to have been a precursor to the Space Pod which it was not.

GHOST IN SPACE

WRITER-PETER PACKER

DIR-DON RICHARDSON (uh-ho--this combo with Packer is dire!)

NARRATOR: Last week, as you recall, we left Professor Robinson working by a mysterious, ghostly swamp, out of which was soon to come the most terrifying challenge ever to confront our space family.

The sign reads: DANGER--KEEP AWAY--IONIZED GAS---JOHN ROBINSON. John has a wood stake in the ground, then hits it with a rock. Gas comes up from the stake spot and gathers around John. John falls and chokes. Smoke covers him as he lies on the ground, almost completely unseen due to the gas. Smith and Will put a can down by the Chariot. Don is worried but Smith says, "Professor Robinson is a reflective man who likes to take his time."Don realizes Smith knows this means less work for him with John gone. Will checks and then calls Don loudly. Will runs to John. Don arrives, "Will! Get back to the Chariot!"Will coughs and falls to his knees. Don also coughs. He and Will pulls John over to a rock but there is still mist. Suddenly it is gone--due to poor effects I guess. They didn't move him far. John is awakened by the two. Will has his hand behind his dad's head. John says, "I guess I forgot to read that sign. C'mon, let's get back to the drillsite."Smith feels they are wasting their time, "Geographically speaking detronium ore cannot exist in the presence of inorganic terrain."John tells Smith to take the dynamite to the hole for blasting at drillsite 5. It will save them time if there is nothing up there to use for fuel. John and Will talk Smith into taking Will along--he knows the way. Smith says, "Very well, lead on."Will knows a shortcut to Drillsite Five--through the bog. He and Penny found a safe path through it. Smith will not go that way. Will tells him the climb the long way is steep. Smith cons Will, sending him back to the Chariot for a spare drill head--he left it under the back seat of the Chariot and John might need it. Smith doesn't want them to get madder at him. Will says, "Well, you haven't been very encouraging."Smith tells him he speaks his mind and lets the chips fall where they may. Smith takes the dynamite and trips. He uncaps it and throws it and the cap into the bog with a fuse and runs past the sign. The area shakes and there is a blast. Don tells Will and John that felt off beat. When Smith returns they will pack up and go. John tells Will he doesn't need the drillhead even though Will found it. Will seems to know he was conned and stares out from the drillsite toward where Smith was. Night---WE SEE THE TWO MOONS OF THE PLANET--and clouds. NOTE: One book mentions THE SPACE CROPPERS as the only episode that we see the two moons--this is not true--we see it first in GHOST IN SPACE. Trees fall by themselves. There are also three toed footprints which imprint into the ground--something invisible is on the move!

ACT ONE

Night--Maureen has the auto dress maker out, is measuring Penny for a dress as the girl stands on a stool. Judy is in a new outfit, "How do I look?"Penny's is not finished yet but she admits she is growing so fast it will probably be too tight before it's done. Smith arrives and asks Judy, "What on Earth have you got on, Miss?"Maureen tells him she felt they were all due for a change. He needs scarlet red for his ouija board. Maureen has lipstick red but it won't do. He picks up his shirt and tells Maureen it is not suited for his Greek athlete like body; he throws it and also tosses to Judy another shirt--which is short sleeved--that slides out of the maker, "Incredible."Penny runs to Smith by the ramp of the Jupiter II and asks about his ouija board as John, Will, and Don come romping out of the ship. Smith wants to contact his Great Uncle Thaddeus. Will tells Penny that Dr. Smith is just fooling her, "There's no such thing as spirits."Smith says he is entitled to his opinion, "...but if your sister Penny prefers to adhere to mine, I shall defend to the death her right to do so."Don tells Smith to get some red lead in the tool locker; Smith will use it even though it is utilitarian. Later, the board is painted with a "goodbye"on top. Smith tells them his Aunt Matilda or Patilda taught him well but was better at making the boards than he. Smith is in his regular black shirt with the vee neck. The others all wear their older clothes, too, including Judy. Smith needs to pick someone to participate in the splendors of the universe's mysteries as he puts it. He denies Don's request to help; Maureen laughs; Smith picks Penny. "Vital energy, sympathetic heart."Maureen fears it may frighten Penny but the girl tells her mom she is not a baby and to think of it as a scientific experiment. Penny asks John who replies: "Well, science has been interested in psychic phenomena for some years and there are some things they haven't been able to explain."Smith tells him the child will be perfectly safe. He takes her too near the table the others are at--where Will and Don scoff and laugh. They put their fingers on the glass over the ouija board but it doesn't work. Maureen tells Will to stop laughing and Will says, "I can't help it, Mom, it's just so silly,"(reviewing the second and third seasons perhaps?). Smith takes Penny further away. Don says, "Give my regards to your Aunt Matilda."Judy says, "You hurt his feelings--you could've given the benefit of the doubt."Don asks, "Again?"Maureen says, "You know when I was a little girl, we found a ouija board in my grandmother's attic. No one knew what to do with it, not even my grandmother. I'm afraid things like that are quite obsolete in the world of computers."Don agrees Dr. Smith is obsolete but says, "Then again, I'm not really sure what world Dr. Smith really belongs in."Penny and Smith set up the board between them as they sit on two rocks. They stare at the glass. Smith tells her not to ask questions, "Concentrate, missy."He tries to Uncle Thaddeus. Wind shakes a bush, the glass moves, and the bush makes a moaning noise and flies off out of the ground. The glass breaks apart and the board flies up. Penny screams and runs. Smith follows, panicked as well. Penny runs to the others and tells John, who blames Smith for creating some kind of illusion despite Smith's cut finger from the broken glass. Thaddeus didn't like it here and in he was very powerful in life, powerful, nice and spry on the surface--but pugnacious underneath; an iron hand in a velvet glove, he would throw things around when he wasn't pleased. Don believes there is a scientific explanation for it and goes to bed, promising to tell Smith what it is in the morning. Smith agrees with Don about bed. When the others go in, John tells Smith, "Uhh, Dr. Smith, there may be a scientific explanation for this and there may not be but right now we've got far too many problems to cope with without worrying about your Uncle Thaddeus."He leaves Smith to say, "The pain, the pain."

Late night--Robot broadcasts, "Warning, warning!"The others come racing up in their night robes and pajamas, Maureen and Penny with their hair down and out; Smith wearing a night cap, long dress top, and slippers. John asks the Robot for a reading. Robot says it does not compute, has a new genetic code, and is due north, velocity of light, is 65 meters away. The garden tables turn over by themselves and fly all around. A table hits the window which makes John instinctively pull Maureen back. Smith tells them this is what they are getting since the Major scoffed at the spirits. He orders the Robot to describe it, "Invincible, indestructible, and irresistible!"Smith moves to go out. Maureen says, "Oh, Dr. Smith, don't you think he's a little too violent right now?"Smith has to go out, he tells her. He does and starts to talk to the force but a very large boulder loosens up and comes flying right at him. Smith ducks and falls away from it as it flies, passes him, and knocks down a tree!

ACT TWO

John and Maureen go out and help Smith up; Don comes out also. They look at the smashed gardens. The sun comes up; Smith says, "Goodbye Uncle Thaddeus."John and Don wonder about twisters but it can't be. Maureen wonders too and Smith says, "I've done my best to explain it to you, Mrs. Robinson."Don finds the toe prints of a three toed monster which Smith feels is just "some nocturnal denizen of this planet seeking food."Don wants breakfast and Maureen feels until they clean up this mess, they will have to eat all their meals inside. Don fools with Smith, asking about detailed instructions about having put the blasting pack into the hole marked with an arrow and metal cap--which there isn't. Smith tells the truth. John and Don question him some more. The energy of the explosives combined with the bog elements which are ionized created the force (a monster? a man like thing? or just the invisibility--just the invisibility might be believable). Don tells Smith from now on he's gonna be swimming in that bog every night. When they leave, Smith pines, "I can't swim."In their new space fatigues, Don and John move through the bog. Don says, "Smith just won't cooperate even it means getting off this planet."John wants to make Smith spend the night in the bog but Don doesn't really want Smith's cooperation, "I'd just like to scare him enough to keep him off out of our hair until we've got enough fuel to get going."John finds footprints which go in both directions. They want to set off more explosives (why?) and stay here to see what that will do. Smith comes up to the control room wearing his new white shirt and holding a candle. Judy, Penny (with her hair in pig tails), Will, and Maureen are all in their new fatigues. Smith wants to hold a seance to which Maureen says, "A seance here in outer space?"

They all go outside. Robot has a guitar. Smith sits at a round glass table and asks for Maureen to allow the children too also and to join in herself. He says to her, "To you I shall say There are more things in Heaven and Earth..."Maureen says, "Dr. Smith, both John and I believe there are certain psychic phenomena that can't be explained but this..."Maureen allows the children to sit and start the seance--they all hold hands in a circle, sitting around the table. John and Don hear heavy and loud footsteps. John shoots at a tree which falls apart in a blast. The footprints come closer and soon they are hit by an invisible force which punches them both down. The punch sounds seem almost like a toy cap gun sound. Don and John get up and run off. More footprints follow them but first, some force picks up John's warning sign and smashes it to pieces.

ACT THREE

Robot plays the guitar and sings a song which Smith and soon the children, urged by the Doctor, sing too--something about If A Buddy Has A Buddy Such As I. Smith tells Penny that was excellent--but they all sang. He talks about not breaking the eternal circle. Smith keeps shhh-ing Maureen and the laughing of the kids, "Shhh, Madam, you will ruin everything with your unfriendly vibrations."Smith asks for a sign that he is being heard. In answer, John runs in and yells, "Everybody back in the ship!"Don is behind John. Penny gasps, "What?"John repeats, "Back in the ship!"Smith complains but is punches quite comically. Robot starts warning, "Warning! Warning! Unidentified object behind you, warning. Unidentified object in front of you, warning, unidentified object beside you! Warning!"John ushers the others to the ramp, "Into the ship, hurry!"Robot wheels off past Smith who runs to Don, "Warning!"Smith tries to stop Don from shooting Thaddeus but Don tries to explain it again but is punched down. John grabs Don, "Don, inside!"The two run in, Smith following as the door closes, "Wait for me!!"Smith goes below, John tells Judy to take the children below and Don to turn on the forcefield. Robot loses power and everything else loses power. When the thing leaves, Maureen points as the lights come back on, "Oh look,"she says. Robot says, "Where was I?"The force eats energy which the Robot says, "That of course does not compute."He will need an energy recharge.

Day--Smith mocks Don and John's cage which they make for what Don calls a destructive, primitive force. Don calls Smith a parrot as Smith keeps going on about his uncle. Their test on the box--a small globe of energy inside and a trap sliding door (the left overs of the Keeper's box he left Smith in)--works. John tells the complaining Smith, "I'm in command here,"also mentioned somehow he can't see himself using a ouija board. Night-the cage catches something; Robot in the Control Room warns all, "Unidentified object caught in trap."John and Don run up, followed by Smith. Maureen and Judy glide up on the elevator; Will and Penny follow the men, using the ladder. Robot gives over four more warnings! The cage is moving. Smith calls it a poltergeist--they have offended the demons. Will suggests the silly idea of putting rope around the cage and letting the force out to see what it looks like--which dopey John agrees to do--but in the morning. Smith tells them, "I could materialize him,"but doesn't since he is so angry. When Don tries to tell Smith one last time it is not Thaddeus, Smith says, "The ignorance of science,"and also mocks Don, "Yes, Major, it's mass and energy and..."

Later that same night--Smith goes to Will's cabin and says, "Psss," and Will is stunned when Smith opens the door. Smith is wearing a monk-like garment robe with hood and holding a lantern. Will jumped, "I thought you were Uncle Thaddeus."In this monk arraignment, Thaddeus will recognize him more readily. Smith wants Will to show him the path through the bog to placate an army of hosts amassing to attack them. Will says, "He's not a ghost."Smith huffs, "They do not like to be called ghosts."Smith gets Will to agree; Will says, "Mom did say to keep an open mind about it."Will takes off his shirt as Smith tells him to hurry and leaves the area of the room. Will puts on his new space shirt. Soon, the two are moving through the misty bog. Smith puts his lantern on a tree, "Ahh, the dangers I face for that family."Unknown to him, the force smashes out of the cage, makes the Robot lose power, and escapes--the footprints start again--toward the bog this time.

ACT FOUR

DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL scare music. Smith passes the branches of a tree and gets caught on one. Will helps him off it. He sets up on a rock. We hear wind sound effects as Will urges him to start placating. The monster's feet are now visible as it stalks through the bog. Smith waits for a sign. Will smiles. Smith wants to go back. They move over a range of rock stones which are separated but form a rock path over the white mist. Smith sends Will first--to light the way ahead; Smith almost falls in but Will tells him the bog is not deep just slimy. Smith says, "That does not reassure me."The feet are following them. Smith, afraid, wants to maintain a respectable distance. An effective long shot of the two as they move through the spooky terrain and trees works well. The wind moves a tree which Smith tries to exorcise. Will asks, "Why would a spirit need exercise?"Smith explains, then uses the dagger but misses. He then tells Will to wave around garlic. In the middle of his repeating Smith's incantation, Will sees it is just a dead tree and tiptoes to it to make sure. As Smith gathers up his belongings, Will moves ahead to find the dagger but drops the lantern. Reaching for it, Will falls into the bog. Smith calls Will. Looking for theboy, Smith falls near a tree. The feet move closer and Smith sees them, slowly looks up, "That is you, Will isn't it?"He sees a one eyed mutant-like mummy like distorted man shape with rag like flesh hanging off of it. Smith screams and runs to a rock, throwing things at it, "Get thee hence!"In a panic, Smith yells at it but it comes right up to him, trapping him near a rock. Then it vanishes. Smith finds William's boot, "Oh dear."Smith moves off. He doesn't hear Will calling to him---Will is now invisible and we can see only his footprints as he walks in the boggy mist. "I can't see myself. Gosh, if only I could see myself."Judy finds the thing gone and calls mom and dad up. Don follows. Maureen tells Judy to get Will and Dr. Smith. The three adults go outside. Don figures they fed it enough power to eat its way out. Smith comes back, upset. When they ask if Will is with him, Smith says, "He will always be with me."He tells them Will is in the bog, "The bog. He's in the bog."John and Don go to find him. Maureen faces Smith, "You left him out there, oh, Dr. Smith, how could you?"don and John, in the bog, search for the boy. The monster is jumping around, hunched over, menacing an invisible Will, "No don't!"The sun comes up, the monster vanishes, and Will appears. He didn't hear Don and John calling to him. John tells Will he believes his story of being invisible. "Knowing Dr. Smith, there isn't anything I'd put past his Uncle Thaddeus."

Early morning--Smith is dressed in his white shirt. He sits on a rock, lamenting Will. He will devote his life to service of his fellow man, "That brave little boy shall not have died in vain--a new Zachary Smith shall burst upon the world."Will arrives with John and Don a bit further behind. Smith is scared to his knees, thinking Will is a spirit, "I haven't raised you yet, don't harm me, I've already repented."When Smith touches him, he realizes Will is telling the truth--he is not a spirit. Will found the lantern but lost his boot. Smith quietly whispers to him, he knows exactly where to find it. John and Don watch, eyebrows raised, as Smith takes Will off to find it.

CLIFFHANGER: Smith, Will, and the Robot fish off of a rock embankment near moss and some trees. Smith relives his youth of a barefoot boy fishing off a warm river bank with bees in a blue sky and his cheeks of tan. Robot catches a big fish on his line; Smith takes it and tells Robot to be, "Quiet, you mumbling mass of metal."He will have their finny friend in a moment. Will and Robot continue to warn him but Smith loses the fish. Will and Robot mention how Smith didn't catch anything. Robot says, "As you've said the proof of the pudding is in the eating."As an insulted Smith prepares to leave, Will says, "Oh, we didn't mean anything, Doctor, honest we didn't."Smith sticks his chest out and head up, "He did not get away--I released him."Will smiles and Smith leaves first. Will and Robot leave also and if you look you will see A FLUB as Will trips and almost falls into the water. As they carry the lines and Robot carries the fish they caught, Robot suddenly acts funny which is the way Will puts it. Robot drops all their fish, "Warning! Immediate Danger! My sensors will not accept the possibility of its existence!"Will drops the poles, "Golly!"He moves past rocks, looking upward as he backs up. Behind him, unseen by him as yet, are trees, vines and a small nitch---which contains some kind of alien robot monster. Will starts to turn and sees it.

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK SAME TIME SAME CHANNEL

REVIEW: GHOST IN SPACE makes little sense, science fiction wise. We get very little by way of answers---was the monster a mutant of the planet mutated further by the ionized gas of the bog after Smith's blast caused the bog to become some other chemical which also could make a human invisible as well. It would seem it was just another monster from the planet with new added powers and needs due to the ionized bog mixed with the explosives. The monster is apparently just what Smith said it was--a nocturnal creature of the planet which goes away--or inside when the sun comes up. Why do John and Don want to set off more explosives? What kind of chemicals is the bog made of? Why does Will turn back to visibility? Did the monster die from the sunlight at the end or just vanish? Did the new powers of the monster wear off at the end? I sure hope the script wasn't allowing us to believe that the entire body of the monster was created by the explosion and the bog together. It could never happen that way--blasts just don't create things unless the bog had unknown properties; given that the creature was far too evolved to have been just made. We are not given any answers. Smith bringing a candle out of the Jupiter II has been mocked--later many items appear as part of the Jupiter II gear--including a wrestling matt, a large cage, and more. A candle is not all that absurd--what would happen if they landed on a planet and lost their power? Smith's supernatural interest is followed up on later episodes but not as much as in this one---it is an aspect of his character that seems somehow stupid--he was raving about being a scientist in the cliffhanger in THE SKY IF FALLING and the teaser to WISH UPON A STAR--here he sees science as ignorant. At about this time, Smith began to get so overly silly and comically so--it set a trend which the show would never recover from--added to the trend of wild monsters and guest star aliens, competing with BATMAN--and bad science which existed right from THE DERELICT and you have a show that was seriously deteriorating. GHOST IN SPACE wasn't too bad, Smith was silly but not overblown as he would be in THE SPACE VIKINGS, TWO WEEKS IN SPACE, MUTINY IN SPACE, and oh, so many others. At least, here, he is somewhat funny and the alien threat is somewhat scary and mysterious, as well as menacing. I would say at this point, the toll of being lost was taken on Smith's mind--he begins "the pain, the pain"more often, talks to himself more often, and in the next episode WAR OF THE ROBOTS--treats the Robot worse than ever before. After that he seems to really be losing his mind in THE MAGIC MIRROR (after seeming to spy on Penny and Judy in a more evil minded and greedy fashion--and for once, his own status of his own mind is almost right--he's lost it. Perhaps this is where the evil Dr. Zachary Smith was put to rest once and for all. This would mark the beginning of a comical, cowardly, greedy, lovable, annoying, mistake making, supernatural believing Smith who deep down did care for the family more than he knew. More on this later.

NOTE: It is reported that is the last time the Robot plays Will's guitar--perhaps on screen this is true but he does use it in THE GHOST PLANET.

NEW CLOTHES FOR JOHN: shirt-dark green with yellow undershirt, collar stripe of reddish-orange, red-orange cuff stripes, yellow shirt stripe, and very dark green pants, black boots, black belt.WORN FROM GHOST IN SPACE to THE GALAXY GIFT. In BLAST OFF INTO SPACE, for all the flying jet pack scenes--John wears his old shirt which is from ISLAND IN THE SKY through the first part of GHOST IN SPACE to match the flying scenes stock footage. In BLAST OFF's other scenes--the majority of the hour--John wears this new outfit.

NEW CLOTHES FOR MAUREEN: Dark green shirt with yellow undershirt, red-orange, yellow stripes on collar and the same color for the cuff stripes, very dark green pants and boots. GHOST to GALAXY.

NEW CLOTHES FOR SMITH: For GHOST a beige-white shirt and the old black shirt with white undershirt changed to Black shirt with mustard colored undershirt, red and orange collar stripe, black belt--pants and boots. The white shirt was worn in GHOST, WAR OF THE ROBOTS, and THE MAGIC MIRROR before returning to the black with mustard color. The white-beige top is given to Ohan by Penny in ALL THAT GLITTERS.